Protecting your body is one of the most critical elements of safe riding. Every stretch of asphalt you ride along has the potential of scrapping layers of your skin. So why risk it?
After all, a major factor in keeping upright and improving your skills on a motorcycle comes from confidence. You shouldn’t be thinking about road rash, or nasty gashes because you decided to ride in your singlet. Your focus should be purely set on riding your motorcycle and the experience that goes with it.
So how much should you spend on protective leather apparel?
Apart from brand name being a major factor in higher cost protective garments, there are plenty of things you should know about what makes a good protective garment.
Leather is without a doubt the best material for motorcycle clothing. Leather has an excellent resistance to tear, it also has natural warmth properties and is relatively easy to clean. Just like maintaining your bike, you also need to maintain your leathers if you want to keep them soft and durable for many years to come.
Cowhide is the most common material used for motorcycle leathers. All leather apparel needs to go through a tanning process. Tanning can either add or detract from the quality of the leather. Leather was once skin of an animal, and therefore must go through a tanning process to strengthen it and keep it from decomposing. Tanning makes the skin stable and rot proof without sacrificing its structure and strength.
When looking for motorcycling apparel, you should always consider the limitations of its usage. Most likely you will want something that will be just as good in the winter as it is in the summer. So added features such as zipper inlets on the arms and back which allow airflow for the summer or removable inner lining which can be taken out on the hotter days, but re-inserted for those chilly mornings.
All too often people forget to look beyond the style of the jacket and not into the safety features which come into play in an asphalt slide. For instance, seams and stitching are vitally important when deciding on the right apparel for you. Too many seams means too many joins. Joins in the garment are areas where the garment is most likely to split. To counter this, always ensure that your garment has double stitching on all major seams.
CE armor is basically a European standard rating. So ensure that your choice of apparel is CE armor approved. For jackets ensure that at the very least the armor is located on the elbows, shoulders and sometimes back. Pants- ensure the knees, shins, and the outside leg have some form of CE protection. There are a variety of choices when it comes to armor. Some are removable with Velcro which gives some allowance when positioning the armor to suit you best. In most cases “Soft Armor” is made of soft foam. Alternatively Hard Armor is commonly found in Race suits and is constructed with plastic and molded pieces of foam.
Cordura and MAXTEX material jackets also offer superior protection to abrasions and tearing. Furthermore they are extremely lightweight, breathable, whilst still having the advantage of keeping cold air out. MAXTEX also has waterproof properties which will keep you dry in the wet. These type of textile garments are second to Leather, but have the added benefit of being lightweight and a little more casual.
So if you are seriously considering protective apparel, be sure to know exactly what your looking for. An educated purchase can easily save your skin without the expense of burning a hole in your wallet!
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